Sacramento, CA – Senator Christopher Cabaldon, representing Yolo County, announced on Wednesday one of his first major housing legislation bills.
The bill, co-authored by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, is a concerted effort to address California’s pressing housing crisis,
The legislation aims at funding affordable housing development across the state. The proposed measures, Assembly Bill 736 and Senate Bill 417, collectively known as the Affordable Housing Bond Act of 2026, seek to place a $10 billion bond measure on the June 2026 ballot.
The legislation is designed to provide substantial funding for affordable rental housing, homeownership opportunities, and supportive housing for individuals experiencing homelessness. If approved by voters, the bond is expected to fund the construction of more than 35,000 new homes and assist over 13,000 families in achieving homeownership. Additionally, the funds will preserve and rehabilitate tens of thousands of existing housing units, with specific allocations for farmworker and tribal housing.
Assemblymember Wicks underscored the urgency of the initiative, stating, “We cannot afford to slow down on affordable housing investments when so many Californians are facing immense hardship. These bonds are a necessary step to address the staggering need for safe, stable, and affordable housing.”
California’s housing crisis has reached critical levels, with only 17 percent of households able to afford the median-priced single-family home. More than half of renters, and 65 percent of low-income renters, are burdened by high housing costs, often spending over 30 percent of their income on rent. In 2024 alone, over 187,000 Californians experienced homelessness on any given night.
Senator Cabaldon highlighted the exacerbating impact of natural disasters on the housing market, particularly wildfires that have destroyed homes and strained rental markets. “The housing crisis has only been exacerbated in areas impacted by wildfires,” Cabaldon noted. “One of the most important ways California can respond is through a substantial new housing bond.”
The proposed bond allocation includes:
- $5.25 billion for the Multifamily Housing Program, with some funds directed to the Infill Infrastructure Grant Program.
- $1.75 billion for supportive housing through the Multifamily Housing Program.
- $800 million for the Portfolio Reinvestment Program to rehabilitate existing affordable housing.
- $500 million for the Community Anti-Displacement and Preservation Program.
- $1 billion for homeownership assistance via the CalHome Program and the CalHFA’s Downpayment Assistance Program.
- $250 million each for tribal housing and farmworker housing.
- $200 million for energy efficiency programs (Assembly version) or rental assistance in wildfire-impacted areas (Senate version).
The bond proposals have garnered widespread support from housing advocacy organizations and lawmakers. Eddie Carmona, Director of Campaigns for PICO California, praised the initiative, stating, “These $10 billion affordable housing bonds are a critical component to meet the housing needs for working families.”
Ray Pearl, Executive Director of the California Housing Consortium, emphasized the need for immediate action, noting that funds from the last state housing bond in 2018 have been fully allocated. Chione Lucina Muñoz Flegal, Executive Director of Housing California, highlighted the bond’s potential to prevent displacement and homelessness, particularly among low-income and minority communities.
“Too many Californians — especially people of color and low-income families — are being pushed out of their communities because they can’t afford rent, putting them at direct risk of homelessness,” said Chione Lucina Muñoz Flegal, Executive Director of Housing California. “This bond is a welcome step toward building the affordable homes Californians need, bringing resources to millions of people struggling to make ends meet, and giving voters the power to take action on one of the state’s most urgent crises.”
If approved, the bond funds are expected to leverage federal tax credits, local grants, and resident rent payments, with every $1 from the state potentially attracting $4 in additional funding. The bond issuance is planned for 2027, ensuring no impact on the 2025-26 state budget.
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria expressed his support, stating, “A $10 billion statewide affordable housing bond is a vital investment that will help us address the No. 1 crisis plaguing California: housing affordability.”
He added, “My administration has led and supported reforms to help create, retain, and restore housing opportunities for our city’s residents, and the additional state funding this bond enables will help us do much more to build more homes, create more jobs, and offer greater stability to families across California.”
Oh goodie. More subsidized housing to add cash to the market and inflate the entire market. Great strategy, bozos.
In the last election, a resolution was on the ballot in Solano County regarding a group of multi-billionaires’ attempt to buy up hundreds of square miles of county land south of I-80 to build a “planned community” free of local control and possibly even of state rules and regulations. When polling showed it was going to fail, the ballot measure was pulled. It is part of the “Network State” movement which has been covered by ex-Sacramento Bee reporter Gil Duran (please google it). In any case, I feel there is a strong likelihood that Mr. Cabaldon received significant support for his campaign in the 2024 election cycle. This bill could very well be part of how state voters can be lassoed into helping these anti-democratic, pro-authoritarian ideologues achieve their goals. Hopefully, I’m wrong, but the coincidence of Cabaldon’s election messaging and lack of any attacks ads against him and the plethora of attack ads against his opponents has a particular and familiar odor. This bill and Cabaldon’s votes in the state Senate justify close monitoring.
Yeap.
That proposal is definitely not dead, and they may be trying to find a way around the voters.
In any case, a vote for an Affordable housing bond is pretty much equivalent to a vote for sprawl. The reason being that the Affordable housing developers are “embedded” with the market-rate sprawl developers.